Northern Ireland power-sharing deal ‘achievable’

A deal to restore power-sharing in Northern Ireland is still possible but "time is short," the U.K. government said Monday.

In a statement to parliament, Northern Ireland Secretary James Brokenshire said a deal between Sinn Féin and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) "remains achievable ... possibly as early as this week."

The deadline for the restoration of the power-sharing agreement passed last Thursday and was extended until Monday. Brokenshire did not give a new deadline in his statement to the House of Commons. The Northern Ireland Executive, which must be run jointly by nationalists and unionists, collapsed in January over a botched renewable heating scheme.

However, representatives from both Sinn Féin and the DUP expressed skepticism that the two parties could resolve their differences.

Sinn Féin's Conor Murphy said a deal was "unlikely in the short term."

"We said over the weekend we don't see any urgency in the DUP approach to this and we don't think it's likely that there will be a deal in the short term because there is that lack of urgency," he said.

DUP leader Arlene Foster said Sinn Féin had a “shopping list that keeps getting longer” and the "onus was on Sinn Féin."

Civil servants currently run the Northern Irish government and make day-to-day decisions, but cannot set strategic priorities. Brokenshire said restoring the power-sharing agreement remains the best option for Northern Ireland, ahead of calling fresh elections, but he warned that Westminster was prepared to step in — so-called direct rule — if no deal can be struck.